Browns providing bulletin-board material for Ravens?

BARRYMCBRIDE

FS Ohio

Any rivalry that the NFL might have hoped-for when they placed the
Baltimore Ravens in the AFC "North" with the
Cleveland Browns in 1999 has been frustrated by the sheer inability of the Browns to actually win a game against the Ravens.

Sure, there have been occasional Cleveland wins and heated exchanges, like the recent incident where Browns DT
Phil Taylor accused Ravens RB
Ray Rice of spitting on him. But one can't help but get the sense that the Ravens have simply looked down on the Browns as two easy wins each year.

"As the years go by, the teams change. The Ravens aren't the Ravens of old," Haden said to the Cleveland newspaper. "They're still really good, a real talented team, a division opponent, but at the same time, our team is a whole different team. It's a different squad. We still haven't gotten over the hump, but there's no reason why we can't."

Despite Haden's statements about the Ravens being a "real talented team," the only part of that quote which is going to gain traction is saying that they "aren't the Ravens of old" -- i.e. mean, nasty and defensively ferocious.

Safety TJ Ward echoed Haden, saying "This team has only been 0-1 against them, so the past is really not what we’re worried about."

The Ravens defeated the Browns earlier in the season, 14-6, but the Browns feel more confident with a strong defensive showing against Kansas City, and a new signal-caller in veteran
Jason Campbell, and the 3-4 Ravens own struggles.

Still, if the Browns plan on breaking through against the Ravens this Sunday, they might not have been helped by providing them with handy comments for their locker room bulletin board.